California Pizza Kitchen, known within the food industry as CPK, is a casual dining restaurant chain that specializes in California-style pizza. The restaurant was started in 1985 by attorneys Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax in Beverly Hills, California. The chain is widely known for its innovative and non traditional pizzas, such as the "Original BBQ Chicken Pizza", BLT, Thai Chicken, and Jamaican Jerk Chicken pizzas. They also serve various kinds of pasta, salads, soups, sandwiches and desserts. They have an extensive children's menu for children ages 10 and under which includes a variety of different pizzas, pastas, salad, and chicken.

The chain has over 230 locations in 32 US states and eleven other countries, including 26 California Pizza Kitchen ASAP kiosks designed to serve passengers at airports and shopping malls. The company licensed its name to Kraft Foods to distribute a line of premium frozen pizzas, in 2000.; Nestlé purchased Kraft's pizza lines in 2010.

Heat the olive oil in a small non-stick frying pan over medium Heat. Do not allow it to smoke. Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until it just begins to turn light brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Do not allow the garlic to burn, as it will make the sauce bitter.

Add the remaining sauce ingredients accepted tomato paste, and stir well. Reduce the Heat and simmer the sauce until all of the liquid evaporates, about 10 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Remove from the Heat and cool completely before using. Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.